Babies have historically been swaddled in a blanket to keep them comfortable, yet snug while they sleep. The theory behind this is that infants (babies in their first 6 months) are most comfortable being tightly enclosed, including keeping their arms against their body, which may simulate the intimacy of the womb. By using simple techniques, a standard blanket can be folded and wrapped around the infant to keep them tightly wrapped in a warm environment, including keeping their arms tightly against their body while they sleep.
In the past decade or two, several companies have created specially-designed swaddle devices, which are essentially blankets that are designed to be worn by the infant. The devices are either wrapped or zipped, and incorporate “wings” that can be simply wrapped across the infant's body. The wings keep the infant snug and keep their arms closely by their sides. These wings are usually secured either by VELCRO (hook and loop fastener) straps or by tucking the ends of the wings into the main cylinder formed around the swaddled infant.
As the infant reaches the approximate 2-6 month age window, their arms attain enough strength to “break free” of the swaddle position. This results usually in a free hand escaping out of the top portion of the swaddle cylinder (in front of the neck just under the chin). This free hand often wakes the infant up from their sleep, and/or prohibits them from falling back to sleep due to the hand being used as a stimulant. Because infants at this age do not yet have full control of their extremities, this free hand can be very disturbing for the infant, and causes them to either stay awake and/or cry, thus disrupting their cycle of sleep.
The conventional solution to the free hand escape problem, other than encouraging parents to more tightly wrap their infants so as to prevent their hands from breaking free, is to include “pockets” inside of the swaddle device. The infant's hands/arms are placed into these pockets during the swaddling process to better secure the hand placement.
While the pockets solution does help address the free hand issue, some renditions of the pockets still allow the infant to flex their biceps and allow their hand to migrate up towards their chin, while still inside of the swaddle. This still allows the infant to touch their neck and chin even though their hand is still inside of the swaddle. The renditions that use smaller pockets may restrict how tightly the wrap is able to be secured, as it may force the infant's hand to be placed too far medially across the stomach or chest. Finally, adding pockets within these swaddle “wings” increases the cost of production for the swaddle device.
Therefore, there is a continuing need to overcome the disadvantages of the conventional swaddling devices and methods as completely as possible.